I'm looking too. Thinking Passport Escort 9500 with the Speed Trap iPhone thingy. Just loaded a free app on the iPhone called Trapster, which is a speed trap/speed camera reporting thing based on user input. Might try that before I shell out $500+.

I'm looking too. Thinking Passport Escort 9500 with the Speed Trap iPhone thingy. Just loaded a free app on the iPhone called Trapster, which is a speed trap/speed camera reporting thing based on user input. Might try that before I shell out $500 .

Valentine 1 - one of the major things the V1 has which others don't are arrows that show you where the radar is coming from which in my eyes is useless because if a radar is coming in, I don't give a shit what direction it's coming from, I'm going to be cautious regardless. The V1 also has a lot of false alarms.

Passport 9500 - is the other "best" detector. It has built in GPS which learns false alarms at specific locations and stops giving false alarms (which is a huge feature) and it has a database of red light cameras. Because it has GPS, you can even mute out your own false alarms by hitting mute 3 times so it stops bothering you I the future ONLY IF IT'S THE SAME SIGNAL AT THE SAME LOCATION. If a new signal is present is at the same location where a false signal is marked, it will still tell you.

Escort, the company that makes the Passport, just released a very new feature called Escort Live. It's a special wire for your detector which syncs with your iPhone or Android over Bluetooth. The point of Escort Live is to use other radar detectors owners detections and signals in your area to show you way ahead of time where a speed trap, laser, or live radar unit may be so you are careful. Obviously Live will need a healthy amount of users to work well, but it is a brilliant approach to radar detections. Escort Live, along with all the other GPS features of 9500 is what sold me on it and I just got my Live Cabel on Friday.

Hope this helps. You may also try some radar forums for comprehensive comparisons of 9500 vs V1.

Valentine 1 - one of the major things the V1 has which others don't are arrows that show you where the radar is coming from which in my eyes is useless because if a radar is coming in, I don't give a shit what direction it's coming from, I'm going to be cautious regardless. The V1 also has a lot of false alarms.

Passport 9500 - is the other "best" detector. It has built in GPS which learns false alarms at specific locations and stops giving false alarms (which is a huge feature) and it has a database of red light cameras. Because it has GPS, you can even mute out your own false alarms by hitting mute 3 times so it stops bothering you.

Escort, the company that makes the Passport, just released a very new feature called Escort Live. It's a special wire for your detector which syncs with your iPhone or Android over Bluetooth. The point of Escort Live is to use other radar detectors owners detections and signals in your area to show you way ahead of time where a speed trap, laser, or live radar unit may be so you are careful. Obviously Live will need a healthy amount of users to work well, but it is a brilliant approach to radar detections. Escort Live, along with all the other GPS features of 9500 is what sold me on it and I just got my Live Cabel on Friday.

Hope this helps. You may also try some radar forums for comprehensive comparisons of 9500 vs V1.

Depends on features you are looking for, technology changes fast. I own two of the popular ones, Escort 9500ix and Valentine 1 in my cars.

Both are upgradeable, Escort has GPS enabled, so you can reduce falses and it also tells you locations of red light cameras which is a nice feature. But V1 is much better in my opinion, its more sensitive Ka band, the ramp-up to full alert is great, cant live without the directional indicator, it has sucessfully detected laser many many times (but laser is hard to defend, usually when detector detects laser you are already caught). I highly recommend V1, cant believe how many of my friends have been saved after I pushed them to get this detector. They all drive too fast.

Your best combo is to get V1 + Laser interceptor gen 8 (Laser Jammer) if it is legal where you live. I run this combo on my daily driver.

If you will be purchasing ANY AT&T services online or in store could you mention that you were referred by me? My Employee Referral ID is eo4489. This would be a great help and it costs you nothing, thank you!

I went with the 9500ix they are installing a lot of new red light cameras with new legislation that passed as well as speed cameras on the highway.

With the GPS it learned my daily route within a day and thus I have no annoying false alarms. You can get the Database updates for a additional 3 years after your 90 day trial from escort for $35 when you get it and for a extra $15 you get a 3 year service plan.

I think between the two its really what you want/need for the areas that you travel, again why I went with the Escort for the database and GPS features. I know a guy that has (8) V1s one in each of his cars and loves them but even he commented on how quite my Escort is when he rides with me. Also in the reviews that I read online the Escort typically beat the Valentine.

Just get a mount that doesn't leave the Escort Hickies on your windshield....

I thought really hard about this before getting one. What an earlier post on this thread mentioned is it truly does depend where you drive in the country and the kinds of roads you frequent most. This will in turn help you decide what detector is best.

I, for example, am in Los Angeles where they recently decommissioned ALL red-light cameras (not that I would try to run a red light anyway). So the red light feature on the Passport is theoretically useless for me. It's actually more of an annoyance now as I get alerts when I am on the freeway. I wish I could turn the feature off. Yes, I do own a Passport nonetheless Why? Well one of the main reasons I never did want to get the V1 is because of all the false alerts. The Passports internal GPS maps your routes and "marks" false alerts automatically. Its a really cool and HELPFUL feature. I love it. My bro uses one in New Jersey and apparently its saved him dozens of times. I do notice that a LOT of people in SoCal swear by the V1. A friend loaned me one one time when I was driving from L.A. to S.F. - I must say, it truly did save me several times on that trip. But to live with it everyday and to have it go off more often than it should is too much for me. Once the Passport "learns", it is almost like it isn't there. I hard-wired mine and its awesome. Note though that whichever you choose, make sure you get Laser shifters or Blinders.

If you say money is no object, I would get both 9500ix for daily work, short freeway and in-town use. Then a V1 for longer road trips on interstates.

I do like my Passport though The features are pretty awesome:
- Auto Silent - beeps loud at first and then softens
- Auto Learn - learns the false alarms and "stores" them in memory
- 3 diff sensitivity modes - my favorite is "Auto", where it reduces the radar range of X and K bands based on your speed. But keeps KA and Laser on full. Pretty neat feature.
- "mark" feature to manually select areas where you do NOT want your detector to go off.

Those are just some of them. There are so many more that make it worth the $500 investment Hope this helps with your decision!

My research has led me to a Beltronics STi-R coupled with Laser Interceptor's BMW EDITION QUAD. I have been contemplating the purchase for several months now, appreciate the advice given so far and would love to hear more.

My research has led me to a Beltronics STi-R coupled with Laser Interceptor's BMW EDITION QUAD.

Im liking the idea but it would appear as the install requirements make it stick out like a hairy wart on Scarlett Johansson's nose. The pix of the Mercedes... I dont know. I like it, just would hope it would be a bit more subdued/incognito.